I am shocked! I tell you, absolutely shocked! to learn that Elon Musk was a hypocrite in his complaints about Apple’s App Store

benfell

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[1] fair use.

If, perhaps, it caught your eye that Elon Musk and Tim Cook made up so quickly after their spat, largely Musk complaining about the cut (ahem, anticompetitive behavior, and yes, both Apple and Google are being investigated for this) Apple takes on purchases through apps, and with barely any explanation at all,[2] consider that Musk is a hypocrite. He plays the same game with Tesla.[3] Musk had picked yet another fight, because that’s what Musk does, that he couldn’t win[4] and would lose badly.[5]

The latest on that, by the way, is that Musk might charge iPhone users $11, rather than $8, per month for Twitter Blue.[6] And in case you’re curious, no, I’m no longer a subscriber: So many are now all but gone, that Twitter’s value to me as a social network has dropped precipitously and it is rapidly going the way of Facebook, also toxic, for me. I still have it because I find a lot of news that way, but as journalists migrate to other platforms, I can foresee a day when I’ll close my accounts there altogether.

Joe Burn, “Twitter HQ Bedrooms Investigated by SF Officials After Complaint,” San Francisco Standard, December 6, 2022, https://sfstandard.com/business/twitter-hq-bedrooms-investigated-by-sf-officials-after-complaint/

Andrew Orlowski, “Elon Musk and Apple quickly made up. We should be worried,” Sydney Morning Herald, December 6, 2022, https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/elon-musk-and-apple-quickly-made-up-we-should-be-worried-20221205-p5c3m6.html

Faiz Siddiqui, “Amazon, Uber ads appear on Twitter pages of white nationalists restored by Musk,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/06/twitter-ads-elon-musk/

Sebastian Tong and Kurt Wagner, “Musk Spars With San Francisco Over Probe of Bedrooms at Twitter,” Bloomberg, December 6, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-07/musk-slams-san-francisco-mayor-for-probe-of-bedrooms-at-twitter

Donald Trump

Coup attempt


Fig. 2. Department of Justice photograph of seized materials, reportedly partially redacted, via the Washington Post, August 31, 2022,[7] public domain.

Kristen Holmes, “Trump expresses support for Capitol rioters as he continues to embrace extremist groups,” CNN, December 2, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/02/politics/donald-trump-january-6-rioters-support/index.html

Bess Levin, “Donald Trump, Running for President in 2024, Defends Violent Mob That Broke Into the Capitol Over His 2020 Loss,” Vanity Fair, December 2, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/donald-trump-defends-january-6-rioters

Karoun Demirjian and Toluse Olorunnipa, “White House rebukes Trump’s suggestion to suspend Constitution over 2020 election,” Washington Post, December 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/03/trump-constitution-truth-social/

Kristen Holmes, “Trump calls for the termination of the Constitution in Truth Social post,” CNN, December 4, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/03/politics/trump-constitution-truth-social/index.html

Ruth Marcus, “Trump’s call for suspending the Constitution is too dangerous to ignore,” Washington Post, December 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/04/ruth-marcus-donald-trump-latest-outrage-is-too-dangerous-ignore/

Martin Pengelly, “Biden rebukes Trump for saying constitution should be ‘terminated’” Guardian, December 4, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/04/biden-trump-us-constitution-terminated-election-fraud

Amy B. Wang, “GOP lawmakers largely silent after Trump suggests ‘termination’ of Constitution,” Washington Post, December 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/04/trump-constitution-republicans/

Caleb Ecarma, “Republicans Apparently Have No Red Line With Trump—Not Even His Desire to Terminate the Constitution,” Vanity Fair, December 5, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/republicans-trump-terminate-constitution

Jeremy Roebuck, “Rudy Giuliani doubles down on false Pennsylvania election fraud claims in disciplinary hearing,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 5, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/news/rudy-giuliani-dc-disciplinary-board-hearing-bar-pennsylvania-election-20221205.html

Aaron Blake, “4 takeaways from the Georgia Senate runoff,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/06/takeaways-georgia-runoff-2022-warnock-walker/

Sara Murray, Annie Grayer, and Zachary Cohen, “House January 6 committee has decided to make criminal referrals, chairman says,” CNN, December 6, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/january-6-committee-criminal-referrrals/index.html

Jenny Jarvie, “Warnock defeats Walker in Georgia runoff, giving Democrats a 51-seat Senate majority,” Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-12-06/sen-raphael-warnock-defeats-herschel-walker-in-georgia-senate-runoff

David Von Drehle, “The tragedy of Herschel Walker,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/06/herschel-walker-reputation-georgia-football-politics-senate-trump/

Jacqueline Alemany et al., “Items with classified markings found at Trump storage unit in Florida,” Washington Post, December 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/07/trump-tower-bedminster-records-search/

Lloyd Green, “Georgia’s runoff was a resounding rebuke of Trumpism. Will Republicans hear it?” Guardian, December 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/07/georgias-runoff-was-a-resounding-rebuke-of-trumpism-will-republicans-hear-it

Debra Cassens Weiss, “3 conservative SCOTUS justices appear to seek middle ground on ‘independent state legislature’ theory,” American Bar Association Journal, December 7, 2022, https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/3-conservative-scotus-justices-appear-to-seek-middle-ground-on-independent-state-legislature-theory

Spencer S. Hsu et al., “Justice Department asks judge to hold Trump team in contempt over Mar-a-Lago case,” Washington Post, December 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/08/trump-contempt-mar-a-lago-records/

Ukraine


Fig. 3. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[8] fair use.

We have no idea how well the price cap on Russian oil will work.[9]

Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Shadow Fleet,” Puck News, December 6, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-shadow-fleet/

Peter Stone, “Top US conservatives pushing Russia’s spin on Ukraine war, experts say,” Guardian, December 6, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/06/us-conservatives-pushing-russian-spin-ukraine-war

Paola Tamma, “Hungary vetoes Ukraine aid, EU seeks alternative solution,” Politico, December 6, 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-vetoes-ukraine-aid-eu-seeks-alternative-solution/

Isabelle Khurshudyan, “On east front with Ukrainian troops: Constant shelling, no heat or coffee,” Washington Post, December 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/07/kremmina-luhansk-eastern-front-ukraine/

Andrew Roth, “Vladimir Putin says Russia’s war in Ukraine could be ‘long-term process,’” Guardian, December 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/07/vladimir-putin-says-russias-war-on-ukraine-could-be-long-term-process

Illiberalism


Fig. 4. Photograph by Joachim F. Thurn, August 1991, Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F089030-0003, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.

The fund freeze is one chapter of a broader tussle between Brussels and [Viktor] Orbán. He’s vetoing key decisions by the EU in order to get his recovery plan under the bloc’s post-pandemic fund approved. He needs a majority of countries to approve that before the end of the year or risks losing 70 percent of the €5.8 billion in grants connected to it.[10]

Among the things Viktor Orbán is vetoing? Ukraine aid and a minimum corporate tax rate.[11]

As for that plot to overthrow the German government?[12] A day later, Matthew Karnitschnig is treating it as farcical.[13] While I can’t tell you Karnitschnig is wrong, I don’t feel nearly so cavalier.

The alleged ringleader was Prince Heinrich XIII Reuß, the long-haired scion of an 800-year-old aristocratic line, who police said organized conspiratorial meetings at his hilltop Schloss in rural Thuringia.

The 71-year-old prince and his alleged co-conspirators, a number of them retirees, assembled a formidable arsenal that, according to police, included at least one crossbow, a slingshot, swords, as well as hunting rifles of unclear vintage and pistols. . . .

Reuß’s motley crew included a former MP with the far-right Alternative for Germany party and a retired German special forces commander (who left the service in 1996 and never actually saw combat), as well as an opera singer (tenor), a roofer and a gourmet cook. After throwing over the government (at one point the group considered making Queen Elizabeth’s death the trigger day, but was unprepared when she passed away) the conspirators planned to establish a political “council” to run the country under Prince Heinrich.

Many in the group are adherents of a fringe movement known as the “Reichsbürger,” who maintain that the German republic is an illegitimate state and demand a return of the monarchy. Authorities put the total number of Reichsbürger, who often get arrested for not paying taxes and have a history of shooting at police officers, in Germany at about 20,000.

Others in the alleged conspiracy are rooted in Germany’s antivax movement, the so-called Querdenker.[14]

Probably a better approach to this is to wonder to what extent this plot is the tip of an iceberg. And in this frame, we then may wonder if there are others, similarly inclined, but less delusional.

Paola Tamma, “Hungary vetoes Ukraine aid, EU seeks alternative solution,” Politico, December 6, 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-vetoes-ukraine-aid-eu-seeks-alternative-solution/

Kate Connolly and Philip Oltermann, “German police raids target group accused of far-right plot to overthrow state,” Guardian, December 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/07/german-police-raids-target-far-right-reich-citizens-movement

Alice Speri, “‘We’re Coming for You’: Italy’s Neofascists Target Journalists as They Assume Power,” Intercept, December 7, 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/12/07/italy-giorgia-meloni-journalists/

Paola Tamma, “Council pushes Commission to think again about Hungary funds-freeze,” Politico, December 7, 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/council-pushes-commission-to-give-hungary-a-second-chance/

Matthew Karnitschnig, “Germans on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” Politico, December 8, 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-republic-monarchy-rechsburger-michael-gotschenberg-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdow/

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Gentrification


Fig. 5. The old Hazelwood library branch. It has been replaced with a new branch on Second Avenue. Photograph by author, May 1, 2020.

Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh streamlines process to convert unused Downtown office space into housing,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 8, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-streamlines-process-to-convert-unused-downtown-office-space-into-housing/

Infrastructure


Fig. 4. Post-collapse scene at the Fern Hollow Bridge, photograph by National Transportation Safety Board, January 29, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Northbound Highland Park Bridge ramp to Sharpsburg reopens,” December 8, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2022/12/08/highland-park-bridge-pittsburgh-sharpsburg-ramp/stories/202212080097

  1. [1]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  2. [2]David Frum, “It’s apparently pro free speech when Elon Musk charges you $8 for access to his platform, but anti free speech if Apple charges him $2 for access to theirs,” Twitter, November 28, 2022, https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1597332772687085569; A. J. McDougall, “Elon Musk Declares Feud With Apple Over After Tim Cook Gives Him a Campus Tour,” Daily Beast, November 30, 2022, https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-declares-twitters-feud-with-apple-over-after-tim-cook-gives-him-a-campus-tour; Sarah E. Needleman and Tim Higgins, “Elon Musk Claims Apple Is Threatening to Remove Twitter From App Store,” Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-attacks-apple-tim-cook-over-advertising-and-censorship-11669662024; Naomi Nix, “Twitter needs Apple more than Apple needs Twitter,” Washington Post, November 30, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/30/apple-musk-tim-cook/; Clint Rainey, “Why Apple and Google could be the biggest threats to Elon Musk’s anything-goes version of Twitter,” Fast Company, November 21, 2022, https://www.fastcompany.com/90815181/why-apple-and-google-could-be-the-biggest-threat-to-elon-musks-anything-goes-version-of-twitter↩
  3. [3]Andrew Orlowski, “Elon Musk and Apple quickly made up. We should be worried,” Sydney Morning Herald, December 6, 2022, https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/elon-musk-and-apple-quickly-made-up-we-should-be-worried-20221205-p5c3m6.html↩
  4. [4]David Benfell, “Elon Musk, groan, again,” Not Housebroken, November 30, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/03/22/elon-musk-groan-again/↩
  5. [5]Andrew Orlowski, “Elon Musk and Apple quickly made up. We should be worried,” Sydney Morning Herald, December 6, 2022, https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/elon-musk-and-apple-quickly-made-up-we-should-be-worried-20221205-p5c3m6.html↩
  6. [6]Jody Serrano, “Elon Is Thinking of Changing His Twitter Blue Sales Pitch for iPhone Users to ‘Pay $11,’” Twitter, December 8, 2022, https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-twitter-iphone-apple-app-store-price-11-1849869146↩
  7. [7]Devlin Barrett, “Justice Dept. says Trump team may have hidden, moved classified papers,” Washington Post, August 31, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/31/trump-documents-removed-storage-room/↩
  8. [8]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
  9. [9]Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Shadow Fleet,” Puck News, December 6, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-shadow-fleet/↩
  10. [10]Paola Tamma, “Council pushes Commission to think again about Hungary funds-freeze,” Politico, December 7, 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/council-pushes-commission-to-give-hungary-a-second-chance/↩
  11. [11]Paola Tamma, “Hungary vetoes Ukraine aid, EU seeks alternative solution,” Politico, December 6, 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-vetoes-ukraine-aid-eu-seeks-alternative-solution/↩
  12. [12]Kate Connolly and Philip Oltermann, “German police raids target group accused of far-right plot to overthrow state,” Guardian, December 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/07/german-police-raids-target-far-right-reich-citizens-movement↩
  13. [13]Matthew Karnitschnig, “Germans on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” Politico, December 8, 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-republic-monarchy-rechsburger-michael-gotschenberg-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdow/↩
  14. [14]Matthew Karnitschnig, “Germans on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” Politico, December 8, 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-republic-monarchy-rechsburger-michael-gotschenberg-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdow/↩

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